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Life hands us many different situations and all too often some find it hard to cope. Author Michelle L. Tate takes the reader on a different kind of tour that most might miss if you don’t pay close enough attention. Insecurities, fear, loss of hope and the feeling of being all-alone are all part of what she describes in the first story poem that reflects her feelings or anyone’s feelings when someone needs to be healed. Starting with a kind and understanding doctor and then feeling alienated from herself, seeing someone that is afraid or insecure and wondering how she can help. The last line of the first poem is so powerful: hold some passion/show some emotion/real/ just a world She continues with the poem Remodel which allows the reader to get a closer look into her mind and her true feelings about herself and what she needs to change. Almost like she is watching her life from outside of herself and wondering if there is anyone like her. Tired of reaching and yet watching and wondering what will come now but in reality on she can decide her future. Emotions are powerful in this poem as she begins to realize that something about herself needs to be change, she has been living locked within herself and needs to unleash herself and finally release she must decide who will be close to her and who will not be. Enjoying her solitude and yet realize that she can be in the company of others but the isolation and aloneness she created all by herself. I wonder if this is what she wants or if she is afraid to break down the walls and let the wires fall.

The next poem is titles Barely Hanging One where she followed by Consumed. The poem that starts her journey back into the world and letting people know she is there is called To Be Heard. Short, to the point and yet a simple echo can allow you to hear your own inner most thoughts, the sound being loud outside and frozen. Hollow Space is begins her journey back as she realizes that he life needs to change, her body needs her and as she looks into someone’s eyes and asks how she should react.

Start: everyone needs to begin somewhere and this poem allows reader to know that it is up to her to begin her self-healing with herself. Homesick Simmered is the next poem and the author tells this story in rhyme as se get to hear her voice more closely, she reminds us of some amazing things that she heard and tells us of the memories of music she has not heard for so long, harmony of angels blending and the warming breeze that heats up the cold. Each poem deals with the speaker’s feelings of despair, hopelessness and the need to reassess her life and rebuild herself. In the poem Start the speaker tells of many things that are good in her life that she remembers such as music that she has not heard for ages, forests filled with life unending and beings living not pretending. It is almost as if she feels that her life is not real and that at times she is just going through the motions or living someone else’s life not her own. At other times you might think she is looking at her life through someone else’s telescope or eyes. Warrior Angel followed by a short and powerful poem Life Evolving where the reader begins to see a metamorphosis in the author’s thinking and she begins to feel like she is finally evolving like a caterpillar coming out of its cocoon and living its life as a beautiful butterfly. Memory Lanes and the Overhaul are the next two poems. Like a car or a home that needs a total overhaul or makeover she describes her life, her being the same way. As simple as needing new glasses to see the world better or listening to conversations and deciding what she wanted to hear. Like the worn out interior of a car that needs to be refinished or reupholstered her life seems to need many changes too. Next is Union where you might think she is talking about the frame of her body that needs to be rebuilt from scratch and the many ways she can renew herself. Heat, cold her body trembling and wondering what she might have missed as she sums it up on page 58 so perfectly. Taking all of the parts that she left in many different places and how she finally brought them back together. “Parts that I left on the railroad tracks come home.” “ Parts that I left in the river come home.” “Parts that fled from criticism come home.” All of the things that she let go of and could not handle will create a new her once she realizes that she can look at herself in a different light. The piece closes with “I am here,” I heard, “ because you called me home.” This poem is quite powerful as it closes with the fact she feels that she is living a dream but while awake ending with these works: “for perhaps for the first time, by my self.” Matter of Time and Across Stages are next followed by Feel and Belief. The poem Feel is quite revealing as the speaker seems to be assessing herself in a mirror and trying to figure out who she is and if the world will remain one huge puff of steam. Belief is followed by Boat Ride and then Council of Warriors, which remind me of when someone looks at you with such scrutiny that you feel like you need to rework or remake yourself from head to toe. Hearing someone tell what is in and what is out. What to wear and what not to wear and what is in fashion and continuing with not liking what she sees and the voices that she hears, maybe her own, trembling with fear. Lessons she learned on this planet and letting go of sadness round out this interesting poem. Heard in Silence and finally Healing Yet! This poem is quite powerful as we hear the voice of the speaker throughout and entire day and as her mood changes, her understanding of her life seems to become clearer and as each hour passes something different happens to her. Many harsh realties set in and she realizes that she has not really faced who she is, she has lied to herself and at times closes her mind and ears to what she should really listen to. Sitting on the floor of her office or anywhere and finally realizing that she should face who she is and stop being afraid. She has worn, “thistles, rockets, bullets, arrows, illness, heartbreak,” and much more but no one can help her if she does not rid herself of the things that do not belong to her in life. As the day closes and her final thoughts are spoken you hope she finds her own inner peace. To learn more and take the journey along with author Michelle L. Tate you need to read Healing Happens and learn the many ways that you can rebuild yourself too.